Monday, 21 July 2014

Hungary 2014 (Round 11) - F1 Prediction League

Note: Hamilton and
Rosberg are banned as picks from all categories (except random where
stipulated). I've created a poll in the right-hand corner of the site - vote whether you're are in favour of the ban. If not (and a majority post no), it won't go ahead. See the post further down for an explanation.

Welcome to the Lewisring! Or if you want the more formal and
technical name – the Hungaroring, located in Mogyoród,
Hungary. This has been the happy hunting ground for Lewis Hamilton in years
gone by, winner in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013. Interestingly Kimi Räikkönen
finished second in every single race where Hamilton won. I think if Hamilton is
reliant on Kimi finishing second to win, he has little chance.

This race track is one which some of the best drivers love and have excelled at including Schumacher, Senna, Mansell and Alonso. The race
has seen a lot of F1 history down the years including Hill’s crazy almost race
winning effort in the…Arrows!? It has also seen the maiden wins of Button and
Alonso in recent years.

There are a number of interesting questions this weekend.
Can Williams hang on to the title of the second best car with its traction and
recent success? Can Hamilton and Räikkönen repeat earlier successes? Can
another German finally win here after the previous dominance of Schumacher –
Vettel would break his Hungary duct and Rosberg would strengthen his position
in the championship.

Random

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far on random this year - please feel free to post suggestions here for other races.Random will be split into two categories - most team improvement and random questions.

Who is catching the Kraken?

Which team has made the most qualifying progress since
Catalunya, Spain?

This is an ideal track to choose as Hungary is (one of) the
closest comparisons on the F1 circuit to Catalunya so progress can be fairly
accurately measured.

The fastest time from the Spanish GP qualifying 2014 has
been taken for each constructor. This time has been represented as a % of the
Mercedes car (see below).

ScoringAs there are
eleven teams there is an opportunity to score 21 points – 11 points for the
best choice and 10 points for the second best choice, 9 for third etc. An additional two bonus
points will be scored for correctly guessing the team which has declined the
most since Spain 2014.

Who’s the most hungry?

Q1: Massa
will finish in the top five in the race? (Yes/No)Q2:
Kobayashi will beat Chilton in the race? (Yes/No)Q3: Rosberg
will beat Hamilton in the race? (Yes/No)Q4:
Hulkenberg will reach Q3? (Yes/No)Q5: A Lotus
car will finish in the points? (Yes/No)Q6: Mercedes
will finish one-two in every session which includes P1, P2, P3, Qualifying and Race? (Yes/No)Q7: Both
Ferraris will score points? (Yes/No)

Two points
will be scored for each correct answer answered above.

Tie-break

What is the
time difference in qualifying between Sergio Perez (car no.11) and Pastor
Maldonado (car no.13)? (best times in whole session).

A random
generator listed numbers between 1 and 99. I took the driver numbers; It took a while to find the two
drivers but we got there in the end.

Reasons for banning Hamilton and
Rosberg

I think
there are a few reasons for this. Anyone who has any issues with this please vote no in the poll (top-right corner of the site). My reasonings are as follows:

Rosberg and Hamilton are both 70 points + ahead of the nearest competitors in the Drivers Championship

The majority of picks have been Rosberg and Hamilton this year with very few exceptions so banning them should increase the diversity of picks made. There are several options open with Bottas, Ricciardo, Vettel, Alonso, Massa etc. Even the McLarens, Kimi, the Lotus' and Force India may be viable picks given a bit of development and unique circumstances.

Three of the last four races have been decided by mechanical issues which I find dissatisfying regardless of the outcome (Canada - Hamilton retires, Britain - Rosberg retires and Germany - Hamilton has a huge brake failure which ruled out any Q points and made the race a foregone conclusion). It's true that the same problem can occur if you choose other drivers but increasingly with the hot summer the Mercs will continue to run into problems

The Merc trend will continue throughout the whole year as their car is significantly better than the others making other drivers implausible choices

Template

Please pick with and without Hamilton and Rosberg in case the ban doesn't go ahead.Feel free to post picks in the following format:Qualifying: Race: Constructors: [Not Mercedes as they are banned]Random:Teams with most improvement: X, YTeam with least improvement: X Q1: Yes/NoQ2: Yes/NoQ3: Yes/NoQ4: Yes/NoQ5: Yes/NoQ6: Yes/NoQ7: Yes/NoTie-breakTime difference in qualifying between Maldonado and Perez:
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I'm
looking forward to this weekend. As always picks are due before Free
Practice 1. Will Hamilton become a five-time winner?